The Oath by Mecca and the Prophet (90:1-3)
“I swear by this city — and you are free [from sin] in this city — and [by] the father and that which was born [of him]…”
The oath by al-balad (the city — Mecca) has an unusual parenthetical: wa anta hillun bi-hadhal balad — “and you are free/permitted in this city.” This is interpreted as either: (a) acknowledging that the Prophet was born in this city and is honored in it, or (b) anticipating the moment of the Conquest when things forbidden to everyone else become permitted to him. Either way it establishes a special covenant between the Prophet and the city.
Khalaqna al-Insana fi Kabad (90:4)
“We have certainly created man into hardship [kabad].”
Al-kabad is the midpoint of the body — the center of effort, the core of labor. Everything the human being does genuinely worth doing requires effort upward against gravity. Life is not designed for ease; ease is the exception, not the default.
Al-‘Aqaba: The Steep Pass (90:11-18)
“But he has not attempted the steep pass — and what will make you know what the steep pass is? It is the freeing of a slave, or feeding on a day of severe hunger, an orphan of close relation, or a needy person in misery, and then being among those who believed and advised one another to patience and advised one another to compassion.”
The ‘aqaba (mountain pass) is the effort that costs something: freeing the enslaved, feeding the starving, caring for orphans, suffering alongside others, remaining patient, extending mercy. It is uphill. Most people don’t attempt it — they have eyes, tongue, lips, all the instruments — and don’t use them for the ‘aqaba.
See also: Tazkiyah, Fiqh Al Sadaqa, Ihsan, Quran Sciences, Tafsir Overview, Al Zalzalah